Mr. Holley, brother of T.S. Holley Jr., was a native of West Point, Mississippi, and graduated from West Point High School. In 1966 he received his Bachelor's of Science degree in Industrial Technology from Mississippi State University, in Starkville, Mississippi.

At the end of September, 1966, he reported for duty, and was assigned to the Air Force Navigator School at Matcher Air Force Base in California. Following school, he was assigned to Southeast Asia for one year, where he was based in Thailand with flight duty over Vietnam.

He was reassigned to Germany and was promoted to Captain just two weeks prior to his death. He was killed in a crash near Bitburg, Germany on October 9, 1969. His flight, an EB-66 airplane, was on a routine training mission when it crashed on take-off from Spangdahlem Air Force Base. He was serving as th electronics warfare officer on the flight.